On the origin of the epithet “Logothetes” used by Pachomius the Serb

Zoia N. Isidorova

Abstract

The article presents the results of the search regarding the epithet Logothetes used with the name of the renowned fifteenth-century hagiographer and hymnographer Pachomius the Serb in texts stating his authorship, his signatures, and acrostics found in his works or texts that he copied. The data show that Pachomius used this epithet only in signing his early works — the Panegyric of Barlaam of Khutyn and two canons of the Service for the icon of Our Lady of the Sign, all composed at the end of the 1430s in Novgorod. This makes unlikely the previously suggested connection of this epithet with Pachomius’s fame as a writer or his work as a chronicler. The most plausible interpretation is that it designated some office held by Pachomius, as proposed by A. Turilov. However, the time when and the place where these works were composed suggest that it might not be an office in the service of the Patriarch Nikon of Peć in Serbia, but some office at the service of the Archbishop of Novgorod Euthymius II or the Metropolitan of Kiev Isidore. The hypothesis of Pachomius’s connection with Isidore allows us to explain how he made the acquaintance of Euthymius II and received commissions from him to write texts for the important Novgorodian religious feasts, and also the dropping of this epithet later on. The article is supplemented by tables presenting all currently known Pachomius’s signatures and acrostics and examples of signatures found in texts attributed to Pachomius but not known in author’s manuscripts.

DOI: 10.31168/2305-6754.2019.8.2.4

Keywords

Pachomius Logothetes; Pachomius the Serb; Archbishop Euthymius II; Metropolitan Isidore; Novgorod; Panegyric of Barlaam of Khutyn; Service for the icon of Our Lady of the Sign («Znаmenie»); acrostic